Apriadi Gunawan and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Medan/Jakarta – Scores of Golkar members burned their yellow party jackets in Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday to protest against chairman Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie's dismissal of 12 local functionaries for reportedly opposing his presidential bid.

"The party leadership should respond to this protest immediately. Otherwise we will stage a bigger demonstration," action coordinator Suma Mahalau said after the protest outside Golkar's local office in Medan, North Sumatra.

"The dismissal reflects the chairman's arrogance. It must be stopped for the sake of democracy within the party," Suma added.

Golkar's executive board recently issued a letter that fired 12 local party officials in a move to "revitalize" the party in North Sumatra. The firings were said to be aimed at freeing the officials of party duties so they could focus on their work as representatives on local legislative councils.

The officials fired included Golkar's North Sumatra branch deputy chairman Syafruddin Basyir, North Sumatra secretary Hardi Mulyono and local civic action bureau chairman Sahril Siregar.

Several deputy officials were also fired: Tajuddin Noor, who worked on labor, cooperative and microfinance affairs; Reza Fahrumi Taher, who worked on strategic issues, Syamsul Komar, who worked on organizational affairs; and two others with unidentified portfolios, Rajamin Sirait and Serta Ginting.

Sabar Sitepu, who was fired from his posts as deputy chairman of Golkar's North Sumatra branch and as the leader of Golkar in the Medan City Council, said that the officials were fired for a lack of loyalty to the party leadership in Jakarta.

"The replacement reflects the anger of party leaders at provincial functionaries, who have been deemed unable of settling the pros and cons over Ical's presidential bid. Unlike others, I personally agreed with Ical's nomination as a presidential candidate. My loyalty is to the party and to the current leadership. But why was I replaced?" Sabar said. "I am awaiting a plausible explanation from Jakarta," he said.

The party has been divided between nominating either Ical or Akbar Tandjung, the current chairman of the party's patron board, as Golkar's presidential candidate in 2014.

Riza Fakrumi, another fired Golkar official, voiced a similar sentiment, saying that the officials were victims of the party's oligarchy and had not violated the party's internal rules.

Sabar and Riza agreed that the dismissals were connected to a recent petition submitted by 55 local party officials and members to the national leadership, asking that provincial chapter chief Andi Achmad Dara be replaced for incompetence. Andi, who has been seldom seen in North Sumatra, was also a confidant of Ical, the officials said.

Separately, Muntasir Hamid, the chairman of the party's Banda Aceh branch, regretted the internal conflict, saying that the dissension might spread to other provinces if Ical continued his arrogant, oligarchical leadership of the party.

Golkar members in North Sumatra and Aceh have contended Ical's claim that his candidacy was supported by the party's executive board and heads of the party's 33 provincial chapters.

Aburizal, currently on a road show in East Java, said on Sunday that the party would proceed with its accelerated schedule for a special leadership meeting in June to nominate him as Golkar's presidential candidate. Golkar members in Aceh and North Sumatra no longer contested his bid, Ical has said.

Separately, Golkar patron board chairman Akbar regretted the protest on Monday, saying the party leadership should have settled the dismissals peacefully to maintain its internal solidity.

"[The dismissals] are normal and sometime are needed but it should have been communicated well. The party leadership should have summoned the fired functionaries and given a plausible explanation, or they and their supporters will otherwise go out and leap to other parties," he said over telephone from Bangkok. "This will certainly affect the party," he added.

Akbar asked that Ical listen to local functionaries, party supporters at the grass roots and to their aspirations to build a more democratic party.